
THE OLD CASTLE AT FORT NIAGARA AS IT LOOKS TODAY 



A NIAGARA FRONTIER MUSEUM. 



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Reprinted from" Buffalo Sunday Express," November 5, 1916 



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The following letter, suggesting that ; agara, make it an ideal location for 
the famous old castle at Fort Niagara such a purpose, 
be restored internally to a semblance j 

of what it was in the long ago, and be 

turned into a national museum of the 
Niagara frontier, as a peace centennial 
memorial, will be read with a great 
deal of interest. It will receive approv- 
al, not only along the frontier itself, 
but generally. 



Editor Buffalo Express: — The recent 
placing of a tablet on the Old Castle 
at Fort Niagara by the Daughters of 
the War of 1812 brought vividly to our 
minds the transcendent historical im- 
The castle has played an important ' portance of that famous old structure. 



part in history. While Quebec was the 
Canadian seat of government, the com- 
mandant of Fort Niagara, whose office 
was in the castle, was the executive to 
whom was necessarily entrusted the 
control of, and most all of the deal- 
ings with, the savages of the west and 
as far east as Albany. To those sav- 
ages (during the eighteenth century, the 
sole owners and inhabitants of interior 
North America) that castle was the real 
embodiment, successively, of the power 
and government of France and Britain. 
Mr. Porter's suggestion, if carried out 
will result, not only in a national mu- 
seum, but one necessarily largely of the 
nature of a real international museum. 
\\dded to its central location, the 
\aried and remarkable historic associa- ] 
\ons which so thickly -■•---'■-- -■' '■ 



It is the oldest perfect building in 
the interior of the Lrnlted States, and 
is in itself (because it was the actual 
seat of government, under both French 
and British rule over all the Indian 
Tribes in the Great West during the 
most of the eighteenth century) al- 
most an epitome of the story of 
North America from 1725 to 1796, and 
(under United States ownership) until 
after the war of 1812. Those facts 
make it (perhaps, equal in importance 
to, certainly only second to. the citadel 
at Quebec) the most important historic 
structure in North America, and be- 
yond question the most interesting 
such structure in the United States. 
Its overshadowing military impor-- 
cluster about i tance during most of the eighteenth 



\ and also the fact that it is so close century, and because it is the largest 
\ the much visited cataract of Ni- J and most famous of the very few fron- 



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tier structures lall of them inside of 
Fort Niagara) wtiicti have looked down 
in approval on a whole century of 
peace between us and our Canadian 
cousins, lead me to make the dual 
suggestion that the federal govern- 
ment (which owns it) should be urged 
to have it turned into a national his- 
torical museum of the Niagara Fron- 
tier, which at the same time would 
be a unique and most appropriate me- 
morial to that century of peace. Ex- 
ternally it should be preserved exactly 
as it has been all during that 100 years 
and as it is today. Internally, at least 
on the first floor, it should be restored 
as nearly as may be to the condition 
in which it was back in 1759-1774; 
when, from its great room on the lake 
side of the first floor, Indian North 
America (and that was nearly the 
whole of it) was ruled by Sir William 
Johnson, not merely during the brief 
periods when he sat there in state, but 
absolutely under his direction and or- 
ders during all that period. That 
great room, from which during the 
last three quarters of the eighteenth 
century the policies of both France 
and England towards their savage al- 
lies were enforced, should be restored 
to its original shape and size. Today 
it is divided into two small rooms, with 
a lath-and-plaster closet between them. 

Then my suggestion would be that 
one of the four front rooms on the 
first floor on the land side should be 
devoted, through relics, pictures, etc., 
to the respective histories of the In- 
dians, the French, the British and the 
United States. 

On the first floor, on the lake side, 
the two eastern rooms could be con- 
nected by a doorway and therein 
could be collected the relics, pictures, 
etc., of the Niagara frontier (both 
sides), of events which were integral 
parts of its history, although not so 
directly connected with the wondrous 
story of the castle itself. 

One more room would remain; that 
could properly and almost essentially 
b3 made into a library, wherein could 
be collected the voluminous literature 
of the entire frontier during all the 
troublous days of the castle's lon- 
gevity. The last remaining space on 
that floor is the windowless "dun- 
geon," one of those now rare but 
gruesome chambers where both 
France and Britain used to incarcer- 
ate offenders, many of whom were ex- 
iled from, across the seas to this spot, 
there to drag out a miserable exist- 



ence until death relieved them of 
their agonies. 

Such a museum, in such a building, 
at such a spot and in such a central 
location would be both unique and of 
enormous historical value. The castle 
stands exactly on the border. I ven- 
ture to hope that our friends across 
the line would take a live interest in 
such a museum, for so much of the 
history of early Canada was made 
within the walls of that castle. 

And while the martial history of 
the Indians and of those three great 
nations would primarily predominate 
in its collections, it would also neces- 
sarily, in antithesis, be our own na- 
tion's contribution of a memorial to 
the 100 years of peace between the 
two great English-speaking nations of 
the earth. And a most fitting me- 
morial it would be to that century of 
peace. 

My letter is already too long. In 
the near future I plan to write and 
publish a history of that castle — fairly, 
fully illustrated. I attach hereto a 
crude plan of the arrangement of the 
rooms as I have outlined them in the 



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f7X6 



THE CASTLE AT FORT 

1, porch; 2, entrance hall; 3, the Great Rf 
8-9. Niagara Frontiers roo 



foregoing. My intention is at the com- 
ing session of congress to present my 
suggestion to our New York senators 
and representatives and ask thieir ap- 
proval and afRrmative aid towards 
having the national government au- 
thorize it. And I shall do so, not 
merely because I am a student of and 
a lover of the history of the old Niag- 
ara frontier, but also because I am a 
member of the Niagara Falls peace 
centennial memorial committee. 

PETER A. PORTER. 
Buffalo, Nov. 3d. 



REAL PEACE MEMORIAL. 



A letter from Peter A. Porter, 
published elsewhere in The Express, 
relative to a national museum of the 
Niagara frontier, will be read with 
much interest. He suggests that the 
old Castle at Fort Niagara, itself an 
historical monument, be transformed 
into a museum of frontier history. 
The proposition will receive general 
approval. The change could be ac- 



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l" a National Frontier Museum. 

n; 6, British room; 7, United States room; 
OrawiQg by Peter A. Porter. 



complished at so little expense and 
the building is so well adapted to 
such a use that it is hard to believe 
that it will encounter any serious op- 
position. 

It was in this Castle that the gov- 
ernment of all this region had its 
center in the days when France ruled 
the Great Lakes and afterward when 
the British were in control. It is the 
oldest perfect building — so Mr. Porter 
says — in interior America, and it pos- 
sesses, what most old buildings do 
not, historical interest of great im- 
portance. If a site were to be chosen 
for such a museum as Mr. Porter 
proposes for this frontier, the Castle 
would naturally be that site. There 
can be no doubt that the people of 
the Niagara frontier will welcome the 
suggestion, therefor. They will ex- 
pect that the people of the state and 
congress — to which the suggestion is 
to be carried — will also favor it. The 
approval of Canada can also be ex- 
pected, for the Castle played a great 
part in Canadian history. 

It is easy to imagine what an inter- 
esting and much-visited institution 
this museum vvould be. In the first 
place it would not be in some inac- 
cessible spot remote from travel, but 
it would be one more addition to the 
attractions of the Niagara river re- 
gion and would be visited by throngs 
of strangers. Then, it would provide 
a place for collecting relics, books 
and documents relating to frontier 
history; each succeeding year would 
add to its value. Again, the Castle is 
big enough to allow of proper classi- 
fication of such material; Mr. Porter 
suggests that a room be devoted to 
each of the peoples who have strug- 
gled upon this frontier. Finally, the 
property already belongs to the gov- 
ernment, and its surroundings are 
such as make sure that the museum 
always would be inviting to the 
visitor. 

But the best feature of Mr. Por- 
ter's idea is his suggestion that this 
museum be created as a memorial of 
the 100 years of peace. Unfortunate- 
ly, there appears no hope at present 
that any of the other memorials, like 
the peace bridge, already proposed 
will be erected. But this national 



museum of the Niagara frontier 
would be a memorial in itself of the 
100 years of peace between the two 
great English-speaking nations. And 
from the very history of the Castle 
itself there could be no finer memo- 



rial. It happens to stand on the 
American edge of the border, but 
that fact does not injure its availa- 
bility, since the old building is a 
monument to every race that fought, 
and made peace, along this frontier. 




LIBRPRY OF CONGRESS 

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